Begin With the End in Mind

“Begin with the end in mind” is Habit #2 in Stephen Covey’s best-seller, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”

That’s not a bad habit for Christ-centered governance. As you think through the four phases of board recruitment (Cultivation, Recruitment, Orientation and Engagement), remember that there is actually a fifth phase: Life-long Engagement.

So if you begin with the end in mind, you’ll likely build deeper relationships and help board members leverage their strengths and spiritual gifts more intentionally. That will have a big pay-off for both your board members and your ministry for dozens of years—long after a three-year or six-year board term.

Rebekah Basinger, who provides fundraising counsel and board education through her firm, Basinger Consulting, writes an insightful blog, “Generous Matters: Encouraging Lives That Are Rich Toward God.”  This month she wrote a must-read article, “After Bye-Bye Board Member, Then What?”

She writes, “Despite declarations of continuing devotion, absence seldom makes the heart grow fonder—at least when it comes to former board members. Unless you are intentional about trying to stem the natural progression of things, all those years of service to your organization very quickly fade to a pleasant memory. Before you know it, bye-bye board member turns into good-bye friend.”

Plus, in this month’s BoardSource LinkedIn discussion group (for members-only), nonprofit leaders have been weighing in on the hot topic, “What happens at the end of a board term?” Members also have access to an excellent article in the BoardSource Knowledge Center, “Board Member Exit Interviews.” (Yes—some boards actually do that!)

If it’s been a while (like maybe never?) since your Executive Committee has had a robust discussion on “beginning with the end in mind,” use these resources to start the discussion.  Leaders of Christ-centered boards are intentional about stewarding board talent—long, long after a member’s board term.

Question: What percentage of our former board members (of the last 15 years) are still engaged with our ministry at a high level?

Is Your Board Crisis-Ready?

Garrison Keillor, the dry and witty host of the Prairie Home Companion radio broadcast, has a regular program feature, “The Lives of the Cowboys.”

One Saturday evening, Dusty drawled about the hard life on the range: “If you can’t stand misery, you got no business being a cowboy.”

All of us who serve on boards or work with boards would likely add, “And if you can’t stand misery, you got no business being a board member.”

Maybe your fresh-faced, rookie board members approach their first year of board service with passion, zeal and high energy.  But the day will come when the board faces a big challenge, be it financial, moral, spiritual or relational. 

Peter Drucker wisely cautioned leaders, “Fortunately or unfortunately, the one predictable thing in any organization is the crisis. That always comes. That’s when you do depend on the leader.”

And in the remarkable devotional book, Jesus Calling, Sarah Young paraphrases the words of Jesus: "Give up the illusion that you deserve a problem-free life. Part of you is still hungering for the resolution of all difficulties. This is a false hope! As I told My disciples, in the world you will have trouble.”

 "When things seem all wrong, trust Me anyway. I am much less interested in right circumstances than in right responses to whatever comes your way."

Board work is problem work! Recently I paged through the 80 governance questions answered in The Nonprofit Board Answer Book: A Practical Guide for Board Members and Chief Executives (Second Edition). (Ted Engstrom and Bob Andringa co-authored the first edition.) In less than a minute, I checked 13 questions that addressed board problems. It comes with the territory.

So how do you equip your board to be crisis-ready? Governance—the God-honoring flavor—depends heavily on getting the right people onto the board bus. When you have spiritually discerning people around the table, you’ll be better prepared when complex and complicated problems raise their ugly heads.

Question: Luis Palau said, "Woe to the [person] who has to learn principles at a time of crisis!"  How prepared is your board for the next crisis?

Is There a Retirement Age for Board Members?

In a board governance workshop last year, a ministry CEO in the back row asked how he could gently help an elderly board member exit from the board.  He wondered if a governance consultant could be of help.
 
Yet as he described his situation (the board member was elderly, but also one of those dig-your-feet-in types), I suggested that he didn’t need a consultant, he needed a pastor.

In the ECFA 2011 Governance survey of ECFA accredited members, 54 percent of board members were age 60 or over (16 percent were 71 or over).  Among board chairs, 62 percent were age 60 or over (23 percent were 71 or over). Is that good or bad? No one really knows.

Why did I recommend pastoral help to the ministry CEO?  In my consulting work and board service experience of more than 40 years, I’ve observed that the greater problem is not aging, it’s sinning. Are board members—no matter the age—hearing from God about their board service?

I’m in the age bracket mentioned above—and I’ve become more intentional about urging my wife, my son and my close friends to speak the truth into my life when it’s time for me to exit a board.  Yet I’ve watched extraordinary men and women, who some would describe as “elderly,” bring wisdom and experience into the boardroom and humbly help others discern strategic forks-in-the-road. 

I’ve also seen the opposite—aging board members concerned more with their own agendas and self-worth. I don’t hear them speaking about a holy calling or having passion to spiritually discern God’s voice. 
 
Question: Who speaks the truth into your life?

What Drains Your Board Members?

This subject arrested my attention when a good friend, Jim Galvin, asked in a recent eNewsletter, “What’s Your Kryptonite?”

“Superman could do many things well,” my organizational consultant colleague wrote, “but he became powerless around Kryptonite.”

He added, “So what is your Kryptonite? What drains you? What situations and tasks suck the life right out of you? We all have unique strengths and weaknesses. When we are operating in our strengths we are energized. When we are operating in areas of weakness we tend to feel drained.”

Effective board chairs and nonprofit ministry CEOs and senior pastors are students of their colleagues in what I call the “3 Powerful S’s” – Strengths, Spiritual Gifts and Social Styles (Driving, Analytical, Amiable and Expressive; or some prefer using the Myers-Briggs or DiSC systems).

An effective leader will understand how God has wired and gifted each individual board member and will ensure that committee assignments, for example, align with each individual’s strengths.  (For help, many boards are now using the Gallup Organization’s StrengthsFinder assessment.)

Caution! Governance work will drain the very life and passion out of unsuspecting board members who say yes to assignments out of loyalty, not out of competence.

It’s interesting that in Galvin’s list of seven items that drain him, including “traveling with people who talk incessantly,” he includes “recruiting new board members.”  So—even people who get paid to help boards get drained by certain segments of governance work.  Jim’s candor is refreshing and is a model for all of us.

The good news: Galvin also listed five solutions for addressing issues that drain you.

Question for Your Board Members: What part of your governance work drains you—and how can we better leverage your 3 Powerful S’s?

When Bad Boards Happen to Good People

Do CEOs get the boards they deserve?  Here are two scenarios to consider:

Scenario #1. Intentional Coaching and Encouragement.  In this scenario, the CEO (or senior pastor) helps the board recruit the right people onto the board bus.  Throughout the year, the board chair and/or the CEO provide board members with a steady flow of governance enrichment opportunities (articles, books, webinars, workshops, consultants, etc.).

Recognizing that every board member brings a certain amount of dysfunction (from prior board experiences) into their current board roles, astute board chairs and CEOs are disciplined at creating a symphony out of one-time soloists.

The problem: this is really hard work. It takes an enormous amount of relational time with schedules that are already overloaded.

The payoff: intentionality is worth the investment. Healthy boards are God-honoring. Joy and grace abound!

Scenario #2: Hopeful Neglect and Frequent Firefighting.  This second scenario is more common to all of us.  Because we don’t have the time to build a great board, we hope and pray (probably—more hoping) that everything will just work out.

Yet, without intentionality, we often settle for second tier board members whose greatest credentials are availability. So they stumble onto the board bus with inferior experience levels and often mixed motives.

Because we haven’t discerned God’s direction in recruiting board talent (an outcome of Scenario #1), we accept “good,” when “better” or “best” could be realized. When the people around the board table don’t have a deep sense of “Holy Ground” in their decision-making, the inevitable verbal fist fights break out—and frequent firefighting becomes the norm.

The problem: in search of solutions, we focus on symptoms.  “If Hank just had more data. If Julie would just attend all the meetings. If Ernesto would just stop micro-managing.”

The payoff: ultimately, this scenario has no payoff. Ultimately, when you eliminate board development opportunities, there is no time or money saved.

“Bad boards” happen to good people frequently, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Choose Scenario #1!

Question: How much does it cost a ministry (time, money, reputation and morale) when the board operates in Scenario #2?

It Takes a Village to Raise a Board’s Effectiveness

Almost 1,100 CEOs, board chairs and board members participated in the 2011 Governance Survey of ECFA members.  A question on board effectiveness asked, “Give your board a grade for their board work in the last 12 to 18 months.” On a scale of 1.00 to 5.00 (an F equaled 1.00; an A equaled 5.00), CEOs gave an average rating of 3.84 for board effectiveness.

The good news: almost 67 percent of boards were rated “Good” to “Excellent.” The bad news: 27 percent were rated “Average.” Just four boards received “Failing” grades by their CEOs while 19 boards received a “D” (“Danger Zone”).  Bottom line: 33 percent of boards were lackluster at best, according to their CEOs.

Max De Pree, the board chair for many years at Fuller Seminary, says that “the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.”
 
So what is reality for your board? How effective is your board? And how clear is it that your board sees their work as Christ-centered? While 81 percent of board members said it was “crystal clear” their work was Christ-centered (the best description of five options), only 65 percent of CEOs checked the “crystal clear” box.

There’s no one silver bullet for raising your board’s effectiveness. It takes a village—a thoughtful array of integrated action steps that cover the four arenas of board work: cultivation, recruitment, orientation and engagement.
 
Don’t let board work overwhelm you or ignore the kingdom implications of mediocre governance. Ask your governance committee to define reality today and then recommend next steps on board effectiveness. Create a life-long learning plan for your board members.  Action steps might include a book-of-the-quarter, governance articles, webinars, video resources, workshops, retreats or self-assessment surveys.

Elton Trueblood said that “pious shoddy is still shoddy.” Ministry effectiveness, however, honors God.

10 Most Common Board Shortcomings

Only 10?  The December issue of Board Member® magazine from BoardSource (you do subscribe to it, right?) features a quick-reading one-pager on “The Top 10 Most Common Board Shortcomings.”

Pour a cup of coffee for three or more Christian organization CEOs, board chairs, senior pastors or church board members—and, without asking, you’ll certainly have your own list of the Top 50 board shortcomings.

Here’s the problem: we all bring our delightful dysfunctions into the board room—often based solely on our prior board experiences in other organizations and churches.  If the last board I served on did it “this way,” I may incorrectly assume that the next board will operate the same way. Not!

That’s why the cultivation and recruitment phase (dating before the wedding) is so critical when inviting new people to join the board.  After the “wedding” it’s too late to discern if your new recruit is a good fit.

Here’s the BoardSource list of shortcomings. The magazine article includes a short paragraph on the prescription for each shortcoming.

1. Veering off mission
2. Complacency
3. Misguided motivations
4. Multiple voices
5. Micromanagement
6. Limitless terms
7. Lawless governance
8. No self-assessment
9. Lack of self-improvement
10. Knotted purse strings

What additional governance shortcomings have you discerned in Christ-centered organizations and churches?